Yemen's internationally recognised government said "defensive" US and British strikes on the Houthi rebels are not enough and called for US and Saudi support to "eliminate" their ability to stage attacks on Red Sea shipping.
"Defensive operations are not the solution," Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), told a briefing with journalists in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
"The solution is to eliminate the Houthis' military capabilities."
His comments came on the heels of a US strike early this morning against an anti-ship missile in Houthi-held Yemen, hours after the Iran-backed rebels caused a fire on a British tanker in the Gulf of Aden with a similar munition.
US and British forces on 12 January fired their first joint strikes aimed at reducing the Houthis' ability to target vessels transiting the key Red Sea trade route - attacks the rebels say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is at war with Hamas.
The US, which since then has also carried out unilateral strikes against the Houthis, has labelled them "self-defence" operations, as has the UK.
Mr Alimi heads the PLC, the Saudi-backed entity representing the internationally recognised government which the Houthis ousted from Sanaa nearly a decade ago.
The PLC is based in the southern city of Aden.
Analysts have warned that rising tensions in the region could derail efforts to broker a ceasefire between the Houthis and a Saudi-backed military coalition which mobilised to topple them in 2015.
Mr Alimi said that he supported the peace process but charged that the Houthis and Iran did not want peace.
"We have formed a negotiating team and we are ready for the peace process, but unfortunately we do not have a partner in this process," he said. "Every time a step is taken towards peace, the Houthis and their Iranian supporters create a new problem to move away from this path."
He also said he wanted US and Saudi support for ground operations against the Houthis, and that Yemeni forces would need to be "partners" in those operations.
"We demand (this support) every day, every month, every year," he said.
War footing
Yemen's war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, either directly in the fighting or indirectly as a result of war-induced shortages.
A UN-brokered ceasefire in April 2022 brought a sharp reduction in hostilities. The truce expired in October last year, though fighting has largely remained on hold.
Mr Alimi said today, however, that the Houthis remained on a war footing.
"Today, the Houthis are mobilising on all fronts and attacking all fronts affiliated with the legitimate government, and there are daily missile and drone strikes on all fronts and on cities affiliated with the legitimate government," he said.
The Houthis' attacks against Red Sea shipping have raised their global profile and earned them support from elsewhere in the Arab world amid anger over Israeli operations in Gaza that the Hamas-run government says have killed 26,257 people, about 70% of them women and children.
Israel's military campaign began soon after Hamas's 7 October attack that resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Mr Alimi said that the Houthis' message in support of Palestinians would not burnish their profile among Yemenis because they have not taken serious steps towards peace at home, such as lifting a blockade on the Yemeni city of Taez.
"Yemenis today are asking the Houthis: why you are demanding the lifting of the siege on Gaza and not lifting the siege on Taez?" he said.
